063 Considerations for Masters Athletes

Mobility, Speed, Metabolite Tolerance, Recovery and Preparedness

Peak biological ages by sport:
Middle Distance Runners – 24 
Sprinters – 25 
Weightlifters – 26 
*GAP*
IronMan Triathletes – 33
Powerlifters – 35 
Bodybuilders – 36 

Mobility
Shoulders and hips need more regular maintenance
Positions required in CrossFit are not required by evolutionary biology, they require maintenance
20 minutes a day for shoulders
20 minutes a day for hips
Every day
3 exercises for each, 1-2 minutes per exercise per set, 3 times a day, every day
Common mistakes:
Too much variety
Not enough frequency

Speed
Snatch will decrease at a faster rate than back squat
Rebounding box jumps will slow down at a faster rate than cyclical work
It’s not that you stop doing these movements altogether, it’s that you need more preparedness in order to express them

Metabolite Tolerance
Lactic ability will decrease at a faster rate than aerobic endurance
Your mile time will get slower at a faster rate than your 5k time, which will get slower at a faster rate than your 10k time, which will get slower at a faster rate than your marathon, etc.

Recovery
Recovery time (from injuries, tissue damage, axial fatigue, anything) is slower. This means lower frequencies. 

Preparedness
More care for preparedness means slower progressions, smaller % increases in loading week to week
Longer warmups
Prep work becomes more extensive

Considerations for Strength 

bodybuilding, powerlifting, tempo, low load weightlifting >> intense weightlifting

Considerations for Conditioning 

endurance, cyclical modalities >> lactic, mixed modalities

Considerations for Gymnastics 

strict gymnastics, tempo, low fatigue skill work >> dynamic gymnastics, highly fatigued

It’s not that you can never do the sport-specific stuff, just less of it overall to allow for more recovery, and you need to spend more time on the front end building preparedness.